John C. Malone on Born to Be Wired and the Next Era of Media with Barry Diller, Mike Fries, and David Zaslav

Chairman, Liberty Media, Liberty Global, Liberty Broadband, and GCI Liberty 
Chair Emeritus, Warner Bros. Discovery
Author, Cable Cowboy and Born to Be Wired

Dr. John C. Malone is Chairman of the Board of Liberty Media Corporation, Liberty Broadband Corporation, GCI Liberty, Inc. and Liberty Global plc. From 1996 to March 1999, when Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) merged with AT&T Corp., he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TCI. Previous to that, from 1973 to 1996, Dr. Malone served as President and Chief Executive Officer of TCI. Additionally, Dr. Malone is Chair Emeritus of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., a director emeritus of Liberty Latin America Ltd., and Chairman Emeritus of the Board for Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.

Born in 1941 in Milford, Connecticut, Dr. Malone was a Phi Beta Kappa and merit scholar at Yale University where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Economics in 1963. He also received a Master of Science in Industrial Management from Johns Hopkins in 1964 and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Operations Research from Johns Hopkins in 1967. He has received two Honorary Degrees for Doctorate of Human Letters; the first from Denver University in 1992 and the second from Johns Hopkins University in 2012.

Dr. Malone began his career in 1963 at Bell Telephone Laboratories/AT&T in economic planning and research and development. In 1968, he joined McKinsey & Company and in 1970 he became Group Vice President at General Instrument Corporation (GI). He was later named President of Jerrold Electronics, a GI subsidiary.

He served as Director of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1993. During the 1977-1978 term, Dr. Malone was the NCTA's Treasurer.

In 1983, Dr. Malone received the NCTA Vanguard Award, one of the highest honors in the cable television industry. He has received many other awards and honors which include: TVC Magazine Man of the Year Award - 1981; Wall Street Transcript's Gold Award for the cable industry's best Chief Executive Officer - 1982, 1985, 1986 and 1987; Wall Street Transcript’s Silver Award in 1984 and 1989; Women In Cable's Betsy Magness Fellowship Honoree; University of Pennsylvania Wharton School Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Center Award of Merit for Distinguished Entrepreneurship; American Jewish Committee Sherrill C. Corwin Human Relations Award; Communications Technology Magazine Service and Technology Award; Bronze Award - 1993 Financial World CEO of the Year Competition; The Hopkins Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1994 and in 2004 the Hopkins Medal, the school’s highest award. He is also recognized as a Yale Sterling Fellow (Harkness Circle) and in May of 2016 he was awarded the Steven J. Ross Humanitarian Award. In October of 2016, Dr. Malone was honored by the Television Academy with the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award. On January 9, 2017 he received the Citizen of the West award which is an honor bestowed upon him through the National Western Association in Colorado. 

Barry Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and the Chairman and Senior Executive of Expedia Group. From 1995 to late 2010, Mr. Diller served as the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of IAC. Since December 1992, beginning with QVC, he has served as chief executive for a number of predecessor companies engaged in media and interactivity prior to the formation of IAC. From October 1984 to April 1992, Mr. Diller served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox, Inc. and was responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company in addition to Fox's motion picture operations. 

Before joining Fox, Mr. Diller served for 10 years as the Chairman and Chief Executive of Paramount Pictures Corporation. In March 1983, in addition to Paramount, he became President of the conglomerate's newly formed Entertainment and Communications Group, which included Simon & Schuster, Inc., Madison Square Garden Corporation and SEGA Enterprises, Inc. Prior to joining Paramount, Mr. Diller served as Vice President of Prime Time Television for ABC Entertainment. He has also served as Producer on numerous Broadway shows, including The Music Man, The Lehman Trilogy, West Side Story, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Humans. Through his foundation, Mr. Diller created Little Island, a park and performance center in the Hudson River and has supported various organizations including The High Line, Motion Picture & Television Fund, UCLA Foundation and Culture Shed. He is a signatory of The Giving Pledge. 

He serves on the board of MGM Resorts International. 

Mike Fries is Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Global, a world leader in converged broadband, video and mobile communications and an active investor in cutting-edge infrastructure, content and technology ventures. Liberty Global delivers next-generation products through advanced fiber and 5G networks, providing over 85 million connections across Europe and the UK. Its businesses operate under some of the best-known consumer brands, including Virgin Media-O2 in the UK, VodafoneZiggo in The Netherlands, Telenet in Belgium, Sunrise in Switzerland, Virgin Media in Ireland and UPC in Slovakia. The joint ventures in the UK and the Netherlands generate combined annual revenue of over $18 billion, while remaining operations generate consolidated revenue of more than $7 billion. Through its substantial scale and commitment to innovation, Liberty Global is building Tomorrow’s Connections Today, investing in the infrastructure and platforms that empower customers and deploying the advanced technologies that nations and economies need to thrive.

As a member of the management team that founded the Company over 30 years ago, Fries launched the company’s international expansion, and has served in various strategic and operating capacities since that time. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Company in 2005 and serves as a member of its two-person Executive Committee along with Chairman, Dr. John C. Malone.

Fries is also Executive Chairman of Liberty Latin America (LLA), a leading communications company with operations in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and other parts of Latin America that serves 12 million broadband, video, voice and mobile subscribers and generates $4.5 billion of annual revenue. LLA was split off from Liberty Global to focus purely on organic and strategic growth in the region. Fries also serves on the corporate boards of Grupo Televisa and Lionsgate Entertainment.

Fries is an engaged industry and community leader. He serves as board member for Cable Labs, is a trustee & finance committee member of The Paley Center for Media and an ICT Governor of the World Economic Forum. He is Honorary Co-Chair for the Biennial of the Americas and is Trustee Emeritus and former Chair of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Recognition for his achievements includes EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Media, Entertainment and Telecommunications and inductions into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame and the Cable Hall of Fame, which recognize pioneers and leaders in the media, communications and cable industries. Mike holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University, where he is a Trustee Emeritus, and an M.B.A. from Columbia University, where he is a member of the Board of Overseers for the Business School.